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The Financial Secretary, Mr Donald Tsang said after chairing the 20th meeting of the Task Force on Employment today (April 13) that the labour market had continued to improve as the economy was on a firm course to recovery.

"We saw a significant rebound of the economy in the latter part of 1999, with growth rate of the last quarter reaching 8.7 per cent. My assessment is that the economy will resume a healthy and stable growth rate of 5 per cent in 2000. As the economy picks up, the number of job vacancies registered with the Labour Department and the number of successful job placements by the Department both reached record high levels in March," Mr Tsang said.

In March, some 18,400 job vacancies were registered with the Labour Department, representing a 35 per cent increase over March 1999. The Department also successfully found jobs for over 5,300 job seekers, representing a 50 per cent increase over the same month last year.

More new job opportunities will be generated from major infrastructural and public works projects that will come on stream in the next six months.

"The Government will continue to enhance the employability and competitiveness of our workforce through training and continuing education," Mr Tsang said.

"We have earmarked an additional recurrent provision of $300 million in 2000-2001 for the launching of seven new initiatives which will help ease unemployment and encourage lifelong learning," he added.

The Government proposes to allocate more than $100 million in 2000-2001 to continue and expand the Youth Pre-employment Training Programme. Over 10,000 young school leavers are expected to benefit from the wide range of pre-employment training and work experience offered under the Programme.

The expanded Programme will include a new component of a three-month on-the-job training. Employers will be encouraged to offer training opportunities to young participants and to employ them after the training period. The first phase of the scheme will commence around June this year.

To meet the demands of the information technology industry, the Government proposes to set aside some $20 million to train up 1,000 information technology assistants through courses run by the Vocational Training Council (VTC) and the Employees Retraining Board. The VTC will also receive funding to provide a total of 1,500 additional places for its Certificate in Vocational Studies and Foundation Diploma courses. Both measures aim to equip trainees with practical skills to enhance their employability.

The Government will also join hands with the Federation for Continuing Education in Tertiary Institutions in launching "Project Springboard" which aims to promote lifelong learning through the provision of bridging programmes for secondary school leavers and adult learners.

"The bridging programmes will enable aspiring students to gain the necessary qualifications to further pursue their studies at a higher level," Mr Tsang explained.

"This is in line with the Government's objective of promoting continuing education," he added.

Other measures to encourage continuing education include further extension of the scope of the Non-means Tested Loan Scheme and the setting up of a website on continuing education courses available in Hong Kong.

End/Thursday, April 13, 2000

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